1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to an active hood latch system for a vehicle. More particularly, it relates to an active hood latch system for a vehicle that enhances pedestrian protecting performance, thereby reducing damage to a pedestrian.
2. Description of Related Art
An engine hood for opening/closing an engine room is generally mounted to a vehicle such that it can be opened to repair parts installed within the engine room and to check general items if necessary. Accordingly, one side of the engine hood is hingedly coupled and connected to the chassis of the vehicle, and a hood latch assembly, i.e. a locking unit for an engine hood is mounted to the opposite side of the engine hood to selectively open the engine hood.
The hood latch assembly is a locking unit for opening/closing the engine hood and has a dual locking structure that not only prevents the engine hood from being opened but also maintains the closed state of the engine hood normally or during travel of the vehicle, and is installed at the chassis side at a lower portion of the tip end of the engine hood to seize or release a hood shaft mounted to an inner panel of the engine hood.
For example, in a locked state of the engine hood, the main latch of the hood latch assembly seizes the hood shaft, and if the hood shaft is released by the driver's releasing the main latch, it is loosened but is locked by a safety hook such that the engine cannot be fully opened.
Thus, only after the driver operates an opening lever in a determined direction, the engine hood can be completely opened.
Meanwhile, the lower body of a pedestrian is occasionally stricken while colliding with an upper leg foam region during collision of the vehicle and the pedestrian, and the Euro-NCAP is recently being carried out to discriminate the pedestrian protecting performance of a vehicle and a failing grade in protection of pedestrians is expected to increase from 2012.
Therefore, since the possibility of enacting a regulation for an upper leg foam region is high under enforcement of pedestrian protecting performance, it is necessary to enhance pedestrian protecting performance and reduce damage to pedestrians.
In order to enhance the current pedestrian protecting performance, there occur restrictions in designs as the height of the tip end of an engine hood is reduced to lessen striking energy and the parting line between the bumper and the hood has to be raised so that a pedestrian collides with a plastic portion at the initial stage. Meanwhile, since technologies for effectively reducing damage to pedestrians in an upper leg foam region without restriction to designs have not been sufficiently suggested, a measure to the pedestrian protection grade in designing an upper leg foam region is not sufficient.
The information disclosed in this Background of the Invention section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.